Rachel and Eric on wed 6 oct 99
Some of you may have heard that there was a bit of a shaker in
Oaxaca recently. A 7.5 earthquake bounced through the mountains and villages
of Southern Mexico. Epicenter was just over the hill on the Pacific coast.
There haven't been many reports from there, but it sounds like the coast is
pretty torn up. I hear this earthquake was similar in magnitude to those of
Turkey and Tiawan. The death toll here is about 30. One big plus of sparse
population density and houses with palm roofs.
Well, here in the center of the state some walls fell, even some
ancient pyramids crumbled. But in general all is well. There were some
broken pots however. This shaker tumbled stacks of pots and plucked pieces
off of shelves. Seems it was the Earth God coming in for an offering. It
wanted a little tribute, I suppose, for all the clay we snatch up and burn.
I gave up about a dozen pots. Miraculous and quite generous really, on the
part of the Earth God, as I have about 2,000 pots stacked like sky scrapers
in my warehouse. Other potters I visited the day after had proportionally
smaller offerings taken. A pot here, two there. Oddly, it seemed like most
of the broken pieces were saint figures and crosses. But I guess that stands
to reason, for the Earth God is a pagan diety.
Personally, having made my offering I feel at ease, at least for the
next dozen years. I can't speak for the potters, but we've all still got
intact heads and roofs over them- so we are thankful here, be it to the God
in the Earth or the God in the Sky.
saludos, Eric
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Rachel Werling
Eric Mindling
AP 1452
Oaxaca, Oax.
CP 68000
M E X I C O
http://www.foothill.net/~mindling
fax 011 52 (952) 1-4186
email: rayeric@antequera.com
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